Yahoo! Messenger Tutorials

Adding Contacts to Your Messenger List

Overview A Safe Environment Importing Contacts Using the Add to Messenger List Window Adding From Your Address Book Adding From an Instant Message

Overview

You can use Yahoo! Messenger to communicate with anyone who uses Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live™ Messenger if you know the person’s Yahoo! ID or Windows Live™ ID. To take full advantage of Yahoo! Messenger—send instant messages, make calls, play games—add contacts to your Messenger List. Once a contact is on your Messenger List, you no longer need to remember his or her ID.

Notes:

You can also instant message visitors to your personal Web pages through the use of Yahoo! Messenger Pingbox™. To learn more, take a look at the Chatting With Visitors to Your Personal Web Page tutorial.

You can’t make calls to or play games with contacts outside of the Yahoo! network, such as your Windows Live™ Messenger contacts and your Pingbox visitors.

You can add contacts to your Messenger List in any of the following ways:


You can even add contacts your friends send to you from their Messenger Lists. To learn more, take a look at the Sharing Messenger Lists tutorial.

 

What’s Next

To maintain a safe environment, you must request permission to add someone to your list just as he or she must request your permission to add your name to their list. The next task provides more detail on this reciprocal process.

 
 
 

Words to Know

  • Contact: a person with whom you interact; someone to whom you might want to send an email, instant message, or text message.
  • Messenger List: the main part of the Contact List in Yahoo! Messenger. The Messenger List includes the contacts with whom you communicate most often.
  • Pingbox: an embedded box on a Web page where visitors to the page can send you instant messages and which lists visitors on your Messenger List.
  • Windows Live™ Messenger: Microsoft® Windows’ free instant messaging application.
  • Yahoo! ID: the name by which a person is known to all Yahoo! networks.